Earlier this afternoon, I accessed my 3 account online only to forget my password. Using the established "forgotten password", I got back in.

While on the account, had seen that I was due an upgrade, so checked it out & rather than complete the order online (wanted a couple of points clarified), called 3's customer services.

Points clarified to my satisfaction & gave the order after a nice conversation with the CS employee (makes a change from a lot of CS centres). True to his word, I received a confirmatory text message within minutes of the call ending - this was around 15:30.

At 17:50, mobile rang purporting to be 3 Customer Services asking for me by name & gave me full details of the order made & asking if I received the confirming text - said yes & did not want any further add-ons to contract - call ended.

Within 10 seconds, mobile rang again & from the same number - 0843 3733313 asking to speak to Mr Mohameed (didn't get the surname as I interrupted the caller).

Stated that he had got the wrong number & the guy got loud stating he had the correct number to which I replied "Do I sound Asian?".

He continued to converse in a louder manner to which I ended the call. As it bugged me, I called 3's Customer Services again & explained the issue as I saw it (this time around I got an English speaking person - sorry, I am not racist!).

This was immediately noted & got asked if I would hold the line as she would get her manager to take the call. After explaining to the manager, he has assured me that he called that number & could not get through & also that the number is not on their approved list of 3rd party dealers.

I'm hoping that I was not fobbed off & that an investigation has started. I do feel sorry for the person/s that did this if they lose their job, BUT I feel that they were in a position of trust which they broke & should be instantly dismissed!

I totally understand and why over here some company's have brought the call centres back to oz people where finding it hard to understand them and peoples personal details have been used to commit fraud .And some of the company's noticed people where going to other company's that had there call centres here and started losing money

Just the other night I called the operator for a number I had a realy hard time understanding him and he ended up sending me the wrong number so I waited till I got back home and looked it up myself

There's an awful lot of call centre fraud and dubious practices going on where your details get forwarded on whether you want your details passing on or not.

Next you know, from whatever innocuous foreign call centre interaction, you are now on the spamming list of other untrusted call centres. Often, they will have 'number unavailable' or a completely fictitious number for their caller id...

There's also the dead calls from the auto dialers.

And then certain phone providers charge extra to block such nuisance calls...

Just goes to show you can't trust them . And they didn't even give him 6 months free service for the hassel . I would give the cash back and try and sue them geees 250 pound wasn't even 1 month's bill he payed .

"Bacs said it was made aware last summer that Totalcaresupport.com had reactivated some direct debits without being authorised to do so. It understood it was the result of a technical issue that resulted in the loss of its most current database, so it submitted a direct debit file which, by mistake, contained some former customers' details."

So no recent backup?

Surely, they must have had a D/D file more recent than a 7/10 year old copy?

It's not a case of E-Commerce, but one of your bank & the companies you deal with not noting weird transactions.

Surely, the banks should have spotted those D/D's being reinstated after such a long time being cancelled?

They do it for credit cards. How many times have people used their C/C's only to have it blocked as the banks thought that being used abroad, assumed it was a fraudulent transaction, with the user having to contact the bank to get it authorised?

Yet, allow fraudulent transactions to occur in the user's home country, for example a user uses his credit/debit card in his home town/city at say, 13:30 & 30 minutes later there is a transaction on that card at 14:00 in Southampton which they let through?

They do it for credit cards. How many times have people used their C/C's only to have it blocked as the banks thought that being used abroad, assumed it was a fraudulent transaction, with the user having to contact the bank to get it authorised?

Anyone with any common sense informs their card issuer of the dates, and where, before they go abroad, so that they are expecting the transactions that they will receive.

They do it for credit cards. How many times have people used their C/C's only to have it blocked as the banks thought that being used abroad, assumed it was a fraudulent transaction, with the user having to contact the bank to get it authorised?

Anyone with any common sense informs their card issuer of the dates, and where, before they go abroad, so that they are expecting the transactions that they will receive.

Stating the obvious again I see, unfortunately, even then, mistakes do & will continue to happen.

I can control both standing orders and direct debits myself via my online banking account. Standing orders are usefull where you have regular payments that don't change, such as paying an insurance policy in 12 installments, instead of a lump sum. Direct Debits are variable payments that the company takes as required, where the amount changes over time. An example there would be pay as you go gas and electric bills that differ in winter and summer. Its easier than them billing you every month for single payments, but you do have to keep a buffer in your account. They both have their place. If I so wanted I could go online and cancel every SO and DD in 5 minutes.

As can I Chris, and amend the amount paid via a Standing Order while online.

I always consider a Direct Debit is you licensing the company to dip their hand in to your wallet. I am not that confident nor impressed by the DD money back guarantee.It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

As already stated, mistakes can & do happen, but the D/D guarantee does work.

Several years ago, & as Chris has stated, one needs to keep a buffer in account. I did, but one company took the same D/D twice within several days & as I, at that time, only reconciled my accounts when I received the monthly statements, went overdrawn which I only noticed when I went to draw cash from an ATM.

It took the Bank & I several hours to go through all the transactions until we found it. As I'd proved it wasn't an error on my part, they cancelled the bank charges & refunded the second D/D which was greatly appreciated.

That was in April. Then in June that year, I noticed that I had too much in account compared to my own records. On checking statements, found that the company had refunded the 2nd D/D as well but failed to notify me.

Sirius is right in that D/D's are OK in themselves, but you have to be careful with whom you do business. Some companies really are ramshackle outfits not to be trusted. As one on pension I cant afford to keep that much of a buffer in my accounts anyway, so like Sirius I keep a close eye on it.

D/D shakes head. Thinks of bill from power company dear old Dad got.
Background, had been going along just fine for some years. Power company made some upgrades to the power vault. They put a new meter on. [New meters start at zero.] Interim bill arrives for a three day period. It is for seven figures and about 25% of their generating capacity. I'm sure you can figure out what happened. Told in a very flat droll voice "that is your bill" by the CSR. Did offer a super's phone number. Super, who can do math in their head realizes the sheer impossibility of the bill. Don't pay anything, I'll get it taken care of (and please dear god don't show it to a consumer reporter!) Takes a big boss override of a manager over ride of a super's over ride to get it fixed. Just real happy it wasn't D/D.

... The law enforcement agency is busily beefing up its Next Generation Identification (NGI) database, which will include biometric information like iris scans, palm prints, face-recognition-ready pics and voice data, adding to its existing database of fingerprints for law enforcement agencies across the US.

"NGI will result in a massive expansion of government data collection for both criminal and noncriminal purposes,"...

... Face-recognition technology is among the most alarming new developments, because Americans cannot easily take precautions against the covert, remote, and mass capture of their images."...

& you think our lot are sucking their thumbs? Take a drive around the Holborn area, Chancery Lane, New Fetter Lane or Shoe Lane, or even Fleet Street. While everyone is concentrating on the Yanks, think of what Your government are quietly doing!